Hogwarts uniform

The Hogwarts uniform is the clothing that students attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are required to wear. The uniform must be worn during all of their lessons, whilst having their meals in the Great Hall and studying in their spare time in the Study Hall or Library. Students are known to wear their own clothes at times but only outside their lessons and during their free time in their common rooms, dormitories and around the school grounds.

The Hogwarts uniform worn by students on a daily basis consists of a black robe and a black pointed hat. The uniform bears no marks, colours or crests distinguishing between the houses. Students wear their own socks and shoes and do not generally wear their own clothes underneath. Students are also asked to purchase a winter cloak with silver fastenings to be worn during cold weather.

Contents

History

The uniform design for Hogwarts has changed over a long period of time. The house colours that are designed into the uniform never vary, Gryffindor's colours being scarlet and gold; Slytherin's colours being green and silver; Hufflepuff's colours being yellow and black, and Ravenclaw's colours being blue and bronze (blue and silver in the film adaptations).

Uniform design, 1938–1945

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Hogwarts uniform consisted of a plain white buttoned shirt, a house tie (red, green, yellow or blue according to House), a thick grey knitted v-neck jumper (with a black neckline), grey trousers or breeches (for males) or gymslip with pleated skirt (for females), plain black shoes, an additional grey pocketed blazer (for males) or with an emblem varying according to which House the student was in and an open grey buttoned robe with the school crest on the chest. Students known to have worn this uniform are Tom Riddle, Rubeus Hagrid, Myrtle, Minerva McGonagall and Olive Hornby. Myrtle is known to have died in her uniform.

Uniform design, 1971–1978

During the 1970s, the Hogwarts uniform was relatively similar to Tom Riddle's era. The Hogwarts uniform consisted of a plain white buttoned shirt, a house tie (thin stripes) (red and gold, green and silver, yellow and black or blue and bronze, according to House) a thick grey knitted v-neck jumper (with a house coloured neckline), grey trousers (for males) or pleated skirt (for females), plain black shoes and an open black tied robe with the student's house emblem. Males also wore grey blazers under their robes and over their jumpers (there is no citation that females also had this included in their required uniform). Students known to have worn these uniforms are, Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snape and Lily Evans.

Uniform design, 1991–1993

During the early 1990s the Hogwarts uniform was changed quite a bit since the 1970s. The uniform no longer had a blazer and it now consisted of a plain white buttoned shirt, a house tie (thick stripes) (red and gold, green and silver, yellow and black or blue and bronze, according to House), a grey knitted v-neck jumper (with a house-coloured neckline), grey trousers (for males) or pleated skirt (for females), plain black shoes, grey socks, and an open black buttoned robe with the student's house emblem on. Students known to have worn this uniform are Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. This uniform design was used until Harry's third year at Hogwarts.

Uniform design, 1993–1998

During Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts, the uniform would undergo a re-design again. This time the uniform consisted of a plain white buttoned shirt, a house tie (thin stripes) (red and gold, green and silver, yellow and black or blue and bronze, according to House), a charcoal grey knitted v-neck jumper, a cardigan or a sleeveless jumper (with cuffs and waist House-coloured), for boys, charcoal grey trousers were worn and for girls, a skirt (around knee-length). Girls also had to wear black tights or stockings. Charcoal grey socks were worn by boys. Students of both genders were required to wear plain black shoes and an open black silver fastened robe with the student's House emblem on and respective coloured lining. Some students wore accessories on top of their uniform (Draco Malfoy wore a snake badge on his tie and Parvati Patil and her sister Padma both wear necklaces with the letter "P" over their ties. Luna Lovegood, also, wore various accessories, ranging from a butterbeer bottle necklace to dirigible plum earrings). Also, in 1996 a select group of students, the Inquisitorial Squad, wore purple medals on their robes. As it has always been, prefects, Head Boys and Quidditch captains also wear a badge.

In all of the books' cover art and chapter art (U.S. editions), the Hogwarts uniforms generally show the students' regular clothing worn underneath a plain black robe. This is supported in the U.S. Edition Order of the Phoenix when on the train, Harry and Ginny change into their school robes together. This is not always the case however. Later in the book during a flashback to the Marauder era it is revealed that Severus Snape wore only his underwear beneath his robe.

The vocabulary used to describe the school uniform - and attire in general - is one area where the differences between United Kingdom and United States English can cause significant confusion. A "jumper" in the UK is called a "sweater" in the US. In the US, a "jumper" refers to a dress generally worn by young girls, called a "pinafore dress" or "gymslip" in the UK.